Rugby Union

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Aviva Premiership

Sale Sharks 18...Exeter Chiefs 11

Sale's pack took command early on and indiscipline by two of the Exeter players resulting in yellow cards saw Sale deservedly win this Friday night match with tries from Cipriani and Cueto to move up to fourth place. This defeat brought an end to the eight-match winning sequence of Exeter Chiefs who stay in third place.
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Saracens 78...London Welsh 7

Saracens ran in 11 tries in this totally one-sided match, which sees London Welsh still making no improvement to team tactics.

 

[Greenback]

I can't see London Welsh winning a game this season. They've been completely outclassed.

 

[Hadders]

I actually thought Welsh would do better this time in the Prem. They're playing London Irish this weekend in a bottom of the table clash. A Welsh win could see the points deficit cut to 7. On the other hand an Irish win would mean Welsh being 15 points adrift and there's no way they'd turn that around.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the table I'm surprised no-one's mentioned this weekend's East Midlands Derby:

Northampton Saints 23 Leicester Tigers 19

The scoreline tells only part of the story. Saints captain Dylan Hartley was sent off after 17 minutes for elbowing Leicester's Matt Smith in the face.

Playing with 14 players for over an hour I feared a mauling but in an absolutely epic match, in which the lead changed hands 6 times, the Saints somehow managed to take the lead with just 2 minutes to go and hold out for a famous win.

The East Midlands Derby never fails to disappoint, always a feisty match.

 

[Greenback]

Hartley had to go for that. It looked to be a great game on the highlights, I wish I'd seen the full match!

As to London Welsh, they have been roundly stuffed by everyone they've played against and I can't even see them having any chance against London Irish.

 

[Hadders]

Hartley had to go for that. It looked to be a great game on the highlights, I wish I'd seen the full match!

As to London Welsh, they have been roundly stuffed by everyone they've played against and I can't even see them having any chance against London Irish.

I'm so lucky to be a Saints supporter. Franklin's Gardens is a fantastic place to watch a rugby match. Always sells out (even at top dollar prices), great atmosphere. Saints V Leicester matches are something special and barely a match goes by without some sort of incident resulting in a red card or a ban. It's a sort of occupational hazard in these matches!

A 3 week ban for Hartley in the end. Probably about right.

 

[Greenback]

Yes, 3 weeks is reasonable.

I'm looking forward to the local Ospreys v Scarlets derby on Saturday now. It's about the only Pro12 game in Wales where there's a bit of atmosphere! I can't see the Scarlets getting anything out of the game, more's the pity.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I was pleased to see that Sale Sharks have had two-year contracts accepted by both 22 year-old Josh Beaumont, the son of Bill Beaumont, who is a number eight and 20 year-old Mike Haley who is a full-back. Good to see the youngsters keeping faith with the club.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Aviva Premiership

Sale Sharks 20....Northampton 7

This must be the best performance of the season by Sale Sharks considering that they were hosting the league leaders.

 

[Hadders]

Aviva Premiership

Sale Sharks 20....Northampton 7

This must be the best performance of the season by Sale Sharks considering that they were hosting the league leaders.

I was there! Awful conditions, biting cold swirling wind with rain and hail towards the end.

No excuses, Saints were poor, the worst I have seen this season. Unusually we lost the battle of the forwards which was key on a day when forwards play would determine the winner.

Unfortunately all our recognised 2nd row players are injured (Christian Day, Courtney Lawes and James Criag) and Samu Manoa is on compassionate leave following a family bereavement so we ended up having to play 2 back row players in the 2nd row. This caused us problems at scrum, line out, at the breakdown and defending the maul.

Given the missing personnel and the game plan needed in the conditions it was always going to be an uphill battle.

 

[Greenback]

I don't mean to be disrespectful to Sale, but I never expected them to beat Northampton. The result spoilt my otherwise 100% record of predictions in the Aviva at the weekend, but I'm not bitter, congratulations Sale on an excellent win!

The weather was very poor at the weekend and meant that the two Pro12 games I watched were pretty rubbish.

 

[fgwrich]

It certainly was quite a surprise, and somewhat ironically timed as we were short of forwards in our team on Saturday, suffering similar issues to Northampton at the lineouts. But fair play to Sale, who seem to be playing fairly consistently lately and doing well to show off the talent that they and Cipriani both poses. But ultimately I think the two games for me this weekend have to either be the Gloucester / Sarries match on the Friday night, or Saturday's clash of the titans between Harlequins and a still hit and miss Tigers, who despite the revenge win over Bath at Welford Road the previous weekend still couldn't match the pace and level of attacking provided by the Quins squad.

We had similar weather conditions on Sunday at the Mad Stad, with a cold biting wind blowing around the stadium for most of the match. Chiefs had the better first half, Irish had the better second. Topped off for Irish by that last second Drop Goal by Shane Geraghty. Which unfortunately with the expected win by Newcastle against welsh, rather meant that there would be no movement towards the bottom end of the table.

Talking of London Irish, They have at last confirmed the departure of Brian Smith. Although unexpectedly the departure has been announced for today than the initially expected end of season departure, with London Irish and former Ireland Lock Bob Casey stepping up from his present coaching role to take over until a permanent head coach is announced - Contenders so far include former Ireland Head Coach Declan Kidney.

http://www.premiershiprugby.com/news/34542.php#.VLUbak1ybFo

Edit. I'll take that back, as according to the Rugby Paper London Irish's new owners have appointed Tom Coventry of NZs Chiefs team.

http://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/feat...ended Content - Advert&utm_campaign=Matchchat

 

[Hadders]

Matches between Sale and Northampton have a bit of an edge and Sale always raise their game for them, particularly when they play at home.

Jim Mallinder (Saints DoR) was a Sale legend in his playing days and Ben Foden, Luther Burrell and Christian Day are all ex-Sale players now playing for Saints.

Add in Steve Diamond (Sale DoR) for added spice and needle!

 

[fgwrich]

During the Premiership Rugby's time off for the European Challenges and LV Cups, There's been a great round of signings for a few clubs in the past few weeks - not the definitive list but:

Exeter : Geoff Parling from Leicester Tigers and Olly Woodburn from Bath.

London Irish : New coach Tom Coventry to replace Brian Smith (from NZ Chiefs), Sean Maitland from Glasgow Warriors, The All Black and Hurricanes Ben Franks and Brendan McKibbin from the Waratahs. Tomás O'Leary returns to Munster at the end of the season.

Bath : Max Lahiff from Melbourne Rebels, Tom Homer? from London Irish, Rhys Priestland from the Scarlets.

Wasps : Jimmy Gopperth from Leinster.

Sale Sharks : Neil Briggs from Leicester Tigers

Ok, not the in the Premiership yet but likely:

Bristol : Gavin Henson from Bath, Tom Varndell from Wasps.

So ultimately a very good week for the Chiefs and a new look London Irish. A Very bad week for Leicester Tigers as to Matthew Tait is also leaving for pastures new, ex London Irish'er Jamie Gibson is leaving for the Saints, Neil Briggs heading to Sale, Finlay Barnham is forced to retire and Tom Croft is reportedly out of contract at the end of the season.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I might as well add the Sale Sharks player news that was omitted from the last posting.

Sale have re-signed hooker Neil Briggs from Leicester Tigers on a two-year contract and have also negotiated a 2 two-year contact with second-row Jonathon Mills.

 

[fgwrich]

I might as well add the Sale Sharks player news that was omitted from the last posting.

Sale have re-signed hooker Neil Briggs from Leicester Tigers on a two-year contract and have also negotiated a 2 two-year contact with second-row Jonathon Mills.

Cheers, I wasn't aware of that move. Fair few players for Chiefs have extended or re signed their contracts as well. Now added that in to the list - I only added the one's I was aware of and teams I support. Still not good for Leicester though.

 

[Hadders]

Still not good for Leicester though.

As a Saints supporter my heart bleeds

Beware the wounded Tigers. They'll be there or thereabouts come the play offs though.

Good to see that their LV Cup match against Saints tomorrow at the Roundabout (sorry, Welford Road - well the ground is effectively in the middle of a roundabout ) is a 24,000 sell out. Leicester's best chance of silverware this season!

 

[fgwrich]

Haha, so does mine. As a Chiefs supporter I can't wait for next season at Sandy Park. We've beaten the Tigers before and we'll do it even better with Parling and Waldrom!

Ah the pitch of Roundabout Road might be bad enough but I don't think anyone's ground beats Wasps at the moment, playing on that must be like playing on loose carpet, every time a scrum is formed and played, it lifts another chunk of the Ricoh's turf!

Good luck tomorrow, I'm certainly rooting for a saints win! They certainly must be feeling odd at the moment though, with most other teams shipping players off to the Elite England Squads, Tigers shipping theirs off to Italy and a chunk off with Injuries. Although with a lack of forwards in our own team I almost know a little of how Leicester feels at times. A little mind, I have got sense!

 

[Hadders]

Good luck tomorrow, I'm certainly rooting for a saints win! They certainly must be feeling odd at the moment though, with most other teams shipping players off to the Elite England Squads, Tigers shipping theirs off to Italy and a chunk off with Injuries. Although with a lack of forwards in our own team I almost know a little of how Leicester feels at times. A little mind, I have got sense!

Thank you, although a win at the Roundabout is extremely rare for Northampton. With respect to Exeter/Bristol/Bath/Gloucester etc. the East Midlands derby is, I suspect, the biggest match in club rugby. Leicester always raise their game against Saints and we haven't won at the Roundabout since the year we were relegated.

Saints V Leicester matches are always fiercely competitive. Red cards, yellow cards and citings are an occupational hazards. They've even shipped in Nigel Owens to referee it tomorrow even though every other LV match this weekend appears to be being refereed by an 'up and coming' referee.

We've got a bit of an injury crisis at the moment and with the internationals away it'll be extremely tough getting a result.

I'll be at the Roundabout tomorrow - can't wait.

I'm also looking forward to my trip to Sandy Park in April - Exeter have recruited very well for next season and should do very well.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

After consulting with the Met Office, it appears that the roof on the Millenium Stadium will be kept open for the Wales Six-Nations match.

 

[Greenback]

That's good. Rugby isn't an indoor sport!

 

[balne-wonderer]

We are having a terrible season and promotion to the Aviva Premiership is long gone

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Six Nations...2015

Wales 16...England 21

Wales had a perfect start to the match and had ten points on the board very quickly but seemed not to be able to press their advantage as when they did not so long ago when they ran out 30-3 runaway winners, but they still lead 16-8 at the break. However, thirteen unanswered English points in the second half by England saw them emerge as the winners of this match.

Would I be right in thinking that England very rarely win in Wales, after being down at half-time?

 

[Oswyntail]

Never happened before! Good, well-fought game

 

[Greenback]

England played very well, and with their heads. The win was well deserved.

 

[richw]

Some of the English youngsters have made it difficult for Lancaster when the injured experienced players are fit again with their performances last night

 

[Greenback]

That's just the sort of problem a coach loves!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Meanwhile at a more mundane level...

The LV=Cup

Sale Sharks 38...Scarlets 3

Sale ran in six tries in this match today and the final scoreline was rather a bigger margin than I expected. A Scarlets follower had told me during the week that although both these two teams had not performed well in the competition, he was sure that Sale would prove an easy team to beat.

Mind you, earlier in the season, he told me that London Welsh's season would turn around when they played Sale....

 

[Butts]

France 15 v 8 Scotland

Well at least we got the only Try of the Match.

Next time we must TRY harder

 

[ainsworth74]

If you gave away fewer penalties it would help!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

If you gave away fewer penalties it would help!

What did not help matters, talking of penalties, was the self-imposed lack of personal discipline when the score was only 9-8 by the Scottish player who accidentally ran into touch after fielding a high French clearance kick, then had the stupid and petulant throwing away of the ball to give away the resultant penalty to France.